Cross-Cutting Themes for U.S. Contributions to the UN Ocean Decade (2022)
Chapter: 1 Introduction
1
Introduction
In December 2017, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly proclaimed 2021–2030 the “Ocean Decade,” officially the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, providing international recognition at the highest levels of government of the importance of the ocean and ocean science for achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.1 The vision for the UN Ocean Decade is “the science we need for the ocean we want.” The concept of the UN Ocean Decade is to harness the collective power of the global community to address increasing challenges for sustainable development in areas such as food security, renewable energy, pollution, and climate change. The mission for the UN Ocean Decade, “to catalyse transformative ocean science solutions for sustainable development, connecting people and our ocean,” emphasizes the innovative nature and collaborative potential of this undertaking (UNESCO-IOC, 2021a).
In advance of the launch of the UN Ocean Decade in January 2021, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC) released the UN Ocean Decade Implementation Plan that outlines a framework for coordinating and promoting the UN Ocean Decade in areas around the globe, and empowering individuals and groups to engage, plan, and implement UN Ocean Decade goals in a shared way (UNESCO-IOC, 2021a). Included in the Implementation Plan are the UN Ocean Decade “Challenges,” “Outcomes,” and “Actions” (see Box 1.1) and recommendations for the development of National Decade Committees, which “will be essential elements to engage national stakeholders and facilitate
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national contributions to the Decade as well as to promote awareness and interest” and “be key in linking national action to the international UN Ocean Decade framework” (UNESCO-IOC, 2021b).
Since the publication of the Implementation Plan, UNESCO-IOC has developed and launched an interactive platform—the UN Ocean Decade Laboratories—the goals for which are to catalyze action for the UN Ocean Decade, showcase UN Ocean Decade actions, strengthen dialogue, and enhance communication and outreach.2 Each laboratory focuses on one of the seven outcomes of the UN Ocean Decade. To date, the following laboratories have taken place: An Inspiring and Engaging Ocean (July 2021), A Predicted Ocean (September 2021), A Clean Ocean (November 2021), A Healthy and Resilient Ocean (March 2022), A Safe Ocean (April 2022). The remaining two outcomes (A Productive Ocean and An Accessible Ocean) will be the topics of UN Ocean Decade Laboratories planned for the remainder of 2022.
At the request of the National Science and Technology Council’s Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology (SOST),3 the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) established the
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2 See https://www.oceandecade-conference.com/en/ocean-decade-laboratories.html.
3 See https://www.noaa.gov/ocean-science-and-technology-subcommittee.
U.S. National Committee for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (U.S. National Committee) to inspire U.S. contributions to the UN Ocean Decade and to serve as the informational hub for U.S. Ocean Decade–related activities. The communications role of the U.S. National Committee has been achieved through its website,4 a network of more than 80 Nexus organizations, newsletters, an events calendar, social media, and a series of webinars including a kick-off meeting in February 2020 that had more than 1,000 registrants. The U.S. National Committee also facilitates the development of partnerships in support of Ocean Decade–related ocean science activities. It has actively sought the engagement of early career ocean scientists through the recruitment and selection of liaisons to the U.S. National Committee5 and the involvement of youth ages 14–25 through the U.S. Youth Advisory Council for the UN Ocean Decade.6
To engage and inspire the U.S. ocean scientific community, the U.S. National Committee issued a call for “Ocean-Shots,” defined as ambitious, transformational research concepts that draw inspiration and expertise from multiple disciplines and fundamentally advance ocean science for sustainable development. The U.S. National Committee held a public virtual meeting in the fall of 2020 to announce the call for “Ocean-Shots,” and publicized it on the U.S. National Committee website, in the U.S. National Committee newsletter, and through announcements shared by federal agencies and nonfederal organizations. With the encouragement of the SOST, the U.S. National Committee’s vision was to take advantage of the visibility and momentum of the UN Ocean Decade to go beyond “business as usual” and foster the creation of programs of such broad-reaching scale and relevance that they would capture the imagination of the science community, funders, the public, and policy makers, much like the “moonshot” mission to the Moon of the 1960s.7
The call for Ocean-Shots offered a series of criteria for the submissions. These included demonstrating potential transformative impact; engaging scientific, technical, and other sectors outside the traditional ocean sciences; building capacity and a cadre of next-generation ocean scientists; and directly addressing at least 1 of the 10 “Challenges” set forth in the UN Ocean Decade’s Implementation Plan. The U.S. National Committee anticipated that some of the ideas submitted as Ocean-Shots could be developed into projects or programs for submission to the UN Ocean Decade for endorsement. Consequently, the criteria also included identification of opportunities for international participation and collaboration. The Ocean-Shots were not meant to duplicate the UN Ocean Decade call for actions; rather, the Ocean-Shots were meant to provide the impetus
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4 See www.nationalacademies.org/oceandecadeus.
5 See https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/us-national-committee-on-ocean-science-forsustainable-development-2021-2030#sl-three-columns-c494ad96-a895-4f0f-962d-11563f650d8d.
6 See https://h2oo.org/us-yac-for-un-ocean-decade.
7 See https://www.jfklibrary.org/visit-museum/exhibits/past-exhibits/moon-shot-jfk-and-spaceexploration.
for the development of new projects and programs over the course of the decade or, in some cases, provide synergistic activities that involved and complemented UN Ocean Decade–endorsed actions that include significant U.S. ocean community input. The response to the call for Ocean-Shots yielded more than 100 submissions, demonstrating the breadth, skill, creativity, and enthusiasm of the U.S. marine science and engineering communities and their willingness to build on the themes of the UN Ocean Decade and engage in transformative science in support of sustainable development.8
Exciting concepts were submitted in response to the call for Ocean-Shots (now accepted on a rolling basis). However, neither the UN Ocean Decade nor the U.S. National Committee are sources of funding that could bring the concepts to fruition. Recognizing the immense potential of the Ocean-Shots to stimulate U.S. ocean science activities in support of the UN Ocean Decade, the U.S. National Committee discussed possible next steps to further development of these ideas with the co-chairs of the SOST, represented by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of Naval Research, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Science Foundation. This conversation led to a request from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, on behalf of the SOST, for a consensus study to identify between three and five themes, as described in the Statement of Task (see Box 1.2). The Committee on Cross-Cutting Themes for U.S. Contributions to the Ocean Decade was appointed to undertake this task in October 2021 by the National Academies based on the membership of the U.S. National Committee and including four early career liaisons (see Appendix B). To ensure that the ocean community had an opportunity to contribute to and comment on potential themes, the committee posted its draft list of themes on the Ocean Decade U.S. website for a 2-week public comment period. These comments were reviewed by the committee and contributed to the final formulation of the themes as presented in this report.
The Statement of Task explicitly asks the committee to build its recommendations around the Ocean-Shot submissions. At the same time, recognizing that this effort is in support of the UN Ocean Decade, the recommended themes should support the UN Ocean Decade priorities as described in the Implementation Plan (UNESCO-IOC, 2021a; see Table 1.1). As a U.S. effort, the SOST also asked that the recommended themes complement U.S. ocean science priorities as described in Science and Technology for America’s Oceans: A Decadal Vision (SOST, 2018; see Table 1.1). A comparison of the seven UN Ocean Decade objectives with the five identified U.S. ocean priorities (see Table 1.1) clearly shows that the visions of these two efforts move us closer to “the ocean we want.” The two sets of priorities complement each other, with the UN Ocean Decade priorities focusing on the health of the ocean and the U.S. priorities focusing on the health and well-being
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8 See https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/us-national-committee-on-ocean-science-forsustainable-development-2021-2030/ocean-shot-directory.
of the communities that depend on a healthy ocean. Finally, the Statement of Task specifies that the themes identified by the committee address compelling areas for public- and private-sector investment and provide opportunities for inter- and multidisciplinary activities in support of ocean science. The committee interprets this statement as an indication that, with compelling themes for the UN Ocean Decade, the agencies represented in the SOST will be encouraged to seek the means to support research addressing these themes. The identified themes also align with other efforts to advance sustainable ocean science, including the goals described in the OceanObs’19 Conference Statement (OceanObs’19, 2019) and the transformations emphasized in The High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy’s (i.e., the Ocean Panel9) new ocean action agenda, Transformations for a Sustainable Ocean Economy: A Vision for Protection, Production and Prosperity (Ocean Panel, 2020). The themes complement these ongoing efforts and foster a multidisciplinary approach for the initiation of research activities to advance the Sustainable Development Goals for the UN Ocean Decade.
Each theme begins with an overview of the issues to be addressed, providing context and explaining how work under the theme would not only contribute to but also significantly advance ocean science for sustainable development. The themes were developed within the context of the UN Ocean Decade initiatives, as described in the Implementation Plan. Consequently, the committee recognized
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9 See https://www.oceanpanel.org/about; https://www.oceanpanel.org/ocean-policy.
TABLE 1.1 UN Ocean Decade Challenges, UN Ocean Decade Outcomes, and U.S. Ocean Priorities
| UN Ocean Decade Challenges (i.e., Ten challenges for collective impact in the Decade ahead) | UN Ocean Decade Outcomes (i.e., Seven outcomes to describe the “ocean we want” at the end of the UN Ocean Decade) | U.S. Ocean Priorities (i.e., Five goals to advance U.S. Ocean Science and Technology and the Nation in the coming decade) |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
SOURCES: SOST, 2018; UNESCO-IOC, 2021a.
the importance of including a section specifically to identify the UN Ocean Decade outcomes and challenges that would be addressed by the pursuit of these themes.
Critically, the themes were inspired by the body of Ocean-Shots submitted by the U.S. ocean science community. Through review of the more than 100 Ocean-Shots, the committee identified common threads linking many of the submissions. Starting with these “threads,” the committee narrowed the list to the required three to five themes specified in the Statement of Task. Two of the emergent themes were viewed as fundamental to supporting the execution of more topical research efforts. These are identified as the foundational themes—An Inclusive
and Equitable Ocean and An Ocean of Data. In addition, the committee identified four topical themes: The Ocean Revealed, The Restored and Sustainable Ocean, Ocean Solutions for Climate Resilience, and Healthy Urban Seas. Ocean-Shots that contribute to these themes are listed in the next chapter. Although these Ocean-Shots have high relevance for a specific theme, the list is not meant to be exclusive or exhaustive; some Ocean-Shots fit multiple themes. In addition, Chapter 2 lists UN-endorsed programs and projects relevant to the theme because many U.S. scientists have already engaged in the UN Ocean Decade through submissions at the international level.
Following the listing of relevant Ocean-Shots and UN-endorsed programs, each theme has a section titled “Potential Research Elements.” This section, derived mostly from concepts presented in relevant Ocean-Shots, offers potential research projects that may become part of the overall theme should it be funded. It is meant to demonstrate that while the theme is being presented as a framework, many key building blocks have already been crafted. It is critical, however, to recognize that these research elements are not meant to represent the full scope of the program but rather to serve as examples drawn from disparate Ocean-Shots with relevance to the theme. Should it be decided that further investment is warranted, the critical role of defining the appropriate research building blocks for the theme will occur through a series of focused workshops and other discussions specifically designed around theme components, as described in the overview of “Potential Next Steps” below.
Under the “Potential Next Steps” sections of Chapter 2, the committee outlines a series of workshops that focus on components of the theme and then bring the various interested communities (e.g., researchers, managers, engineers, funders, stakeholders) together to structure an overarching program. The workshops will provide an opportunity for developing interdisciplinary teams that represent various science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and social sciences disciplines, including early career and historically marginalized groups, and come from a variety of backgrounds (e.g., government, academia, industry, nonprofits, foundations) to initiate the development of plans with enough specificity to merit decisions on the viability of and potential for funding. Workshops, pending funding from the public or private sector, would initially draw from the cohort of investigators who submitted Ocean-Shots relevant to that theme, with the investigators having the option to attend the workshop most relevant to their interests. However, workshop participation would be broadened by an active effort to ensure the inclusion of early career scientists, underrepresented groups, Indigenous representatives, stakeholders, the private sector, and research funders.
With input from the committee, gaps in the existing Ocean-Shots that prevent achievement of the overarching goals of the theme will be identified and a diverse group of experts will be solicited to fill those gaps. The committee will call on other National Academies boards to identify experts from other disciplines to enable an interdisciplinary approach for addressing the themes. In each
case, representatives from the two foundational themes will be present to ensure that the best practices and approaches developed by these themes are integrated into the theme’s development. The goal for these workshops is to produce well-developed research plans with enough detail to allow the SOST and others to evaluate the feasibility of making substantial investments into these decadal-scale programs that are designed to address key research and actions necessary to ensure a safe, healthy, and sustainable ocean.
Finally, a short section on “Defining Success” is presented for each theme in Chapter 2. This section captures the initial thoughts of the committee on what the state of the ocean and ocean science might be if the objectives outlined in each theme are met. In some cases, objectives are measurable; in other cases, they are less concrete. Through the process of the “Next Steps” workshops, a much clearer picture of the metrics for success for each theme will be defined. In all cases the definitions of success are aspirational—some may not be achieved by 2030, but much will be gained trying. Additionally, the UN Ocean Decade is a construct; the problems of ocean sustainability are real and will need to be addressed far beyond the end of the decade. By increasing public awareness of the critical functions of the ocean, the UN Ocean Decade will increase the long-term interest in sustainable ocean practices.
In the final chapter, the committee provides concluding thoughts on how the described themes could help advance the U.S. contributions to the UN Ocean Decade and next steps to develop the themes into mature research programs.
